It is what failed dieters have long suspected: 1. Scientists have confirmed that the majority of overweight people who try to lose weight either by cutting calories or exercising will return to their former size.
Fewer than 10 percent of the 12 million Britons who go on a diet each year succeed in losing significant amounts of weight and 2. The scientists, from the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and Development, followed 5,362 men and women from their birth in 1976 and 20,000 from birth in 1988, measuring their weight and blood pressure and assessing their lifestyles. They found both groups began gaining weight in the 2000s and had steadily increased in size ever since.
Dr. Rebecca Hardy, the council’s program leader on body size, said, “Once people become overweight, they continue without doubt upwards.3. It is better to avoid getting fat in the first place. For men, weight goes up steadily through life.4.
Experts have suggested evolution means we are programmed to put on weight rather than lose it. Dieting can make this tendency worse as decreasing calorie intake causes the body to go into starvation mode and reduce the amount of energy it naturally expends, making it even harder to lose weight.5. So eating less and taking more exercise can increase fitness and lower blood pressure.
A. They hardly ever go back down.
B. Overweight people are born fat.
C. Fat people really can’t keep the weight off.
D. most of those do put it all back on again within a year.
E. few of those can keep on exercising and eating less food.
F. For women, it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-thirties.
G. But the study’s findings do not mean dieting is pointless and useless.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
The Most Popular Cultural Attractions in the World
These are the top experiences, tours, and activities, according to TripAdvisor’s new travel trend report. Add them to your list.
The Vatican
More than just the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and home to the Pope, the Vatican is a treasure of art and architecture. Its museums display an enormous collection of classical sculptures and Renaissance masterpieces, including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and Raphael’s Stanze di Raffaello. Prepare for your trip with a deeper look inside the Vatican.
Chicago Architecture River Cruise (游览)
So many beautiful buildings, so little time. What better way to view them all than on an architecture-focused cruise on the Chicago River? The 75-minute cruise takes travelers on a journey through the fascinating history of its most storied structures, including the Willis Tower, John Hancock Center, and Riverside Plaza.
Warner Bros. Studio
The magical wizarding world of Harry Potter draws devotees from near and far. A walking tour gives visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the film - the set, costumes, props, and more. Pro tip: This exciting experience tends to sell out, so be sure to book in advance.
Sagrada Familia
Designed by noted Catalan architect Antoni Gaudf, the Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Spain, is the largest unfin¬ished Roman Catholic church in the world. The monumental basilica (教堂) has been under construction since 1882. With waits often in excess of three hours, a priority access tour with guide is a great idea.
1.If you want to appreciate an attraction on the water, you should go to .
A. Vatican B. Spain
C. America D. Britain
2.Which of the following activities needs to be booked beforehand?
A. Visiting Warner Bros. Studio.
B. Having a cruise on the Chicago River.
C. Enjoying the Renaissance masterpieces.
D. Appreciating the church designed by Gaudi.
3.What is true about the Sagrada Familia?
A. Its construction didn’t start until 1882.
B. The Pope is living in the church now.
C. It’s the largest Roman Catholic church.
D. Visiting it often takes less than 3 hours’ waiting.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Eleven years ago, the world as I knew it ended. My husband of 19 years was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the course of seven months，Bill went from beating me silly at tennis to needing my help to go to the bathroom. It was the best seven months of my life.
Maybe I don’t actually mean that. But it was certainly the time when I felt most alive. I discovered that the minor complaint of an annoying coworker, or a flat tire pales in comparison with the beauty of sincere laughter, or the smells of a bakery. There were moments of joy, laughter, and tenderness. After Bill’s diagnosis and brain surgery, I found clinical trials and talked to doctors in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York. It gave me a sense of purpose.
In the latter days, being Bill’s caregiver also meant being fully present for as many moments of every day as possible. During his last weekend, we had dinner together. Later, a relative visited. I noticed that she’d changed her appearance, and not in a good way. It was the kind of thought I’d usually keep to myself. Just then, Bill voiced exactly what I’d been thinking, in that truthful way he had, and I found myself laughing out loud.
I thought I could look after this man forever. However, he would be dead in four days.
Eleven years later, I haven’t started a foundation to cure cancer. I haven’t left the news business to get a medical degree. But every day, I try to again be the person I became during those seven months. I try to be a little less judgmental, a little more forgiving and generous. I am a better person for having been Bill’s caregiver. It was his last, best gift to me.
1.What is true about her husband?
A. He was a bad tennis player.
B. He felt weak because of his brain surgery.
C. He had to talk to doctors in different cities.
D. He had to be accompanied mostly during his illness.
2.What does the underlined word “pales” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Turns whiter than usual. B. Seems less important.
C. Becomes more significant. D. Proves unreasonable.
3.The story of their relative in Paragraph 4 is used to show .
A. being a caregiver requires much time and effort
B. one needs to speak out his own thoughts truthfully
C. change in appearance is a necessary part of one’s life
D. life needs a sense of humor even faced with hardships
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. The Best Time of My Life B. The Greatest Gift to Me
C. My Loving Husband D. A Caregiver’s Hard Work
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Do you use online ratings and reviews to decide which products and services to buy? Well, we just found out that those ratings may not always lead to the best choices.
Online reviews should be helping us make good decisions about what to spend our money on. However, they do help us make decisions — just not necessarily the best ones, according to a new study led by Derek Powell, PhD of Stanford University.
Specifically, the study reveals that we tend to buy a product that has more reviews than a product that has less, even if the product with more reviews has lower ratings. When given a choice between two products that have equally bad reviews, we’re still willing to buy the one with more reviews. Dr. Powell asked several hundred people to look at a series of cell phone cases, presented in pairs along with the average user rating and number of reviews for each case, and then indicated which they preferred. The result was that the participants tended to choose the case that had more reviews, rather than better reviews.
This herd-mentality is a function of social learning, the process by which new behaviors are learned through observing the behavior of others: “The Internet now provides social evidence on an unprecedented scale. However, properly adopting this evidence requires a capacity for statistical inference.”
“Consumers try to use information about other people’s experiences to make good choices, and retailers (零售商) have an motivation to channel consumers toward products they will be satisfied with,” Dr. Powell added. “Our data suggest that retailers might need to rethink how reviews are presented and consumers might need to do more to educate themselves about how to use reviews to guide their choices. That includes absorbing the idea that a larger number of reviews is not a reliable indicator of a product’s quality.
1.Which product do we intend to buy?
A. A product with more reviews and no ratings.
B. A product with fewer reviews and lower ratings.
C. A product with more reviews and lower ratings.
D. A product with fewer reviews and higher ratings.
2.According to the research, we will make a purchase after .
A. observing the behavior of other customers
B. analyzing statistics carefully
C. educating ourselves to use reviews properly
D. referring to our former experiences
3.What will Dr. Powell agree with?
A. No review is reliable when customers buy things online.
B. Customers should rethink the way reviews are shown.
C. The retailers should teach customers how to use reviews.
D. It is not wise to follow the crowd when customers make a purchase.
4.What’s the purpose of the passage?
A. To argue. B. To inform.
C. To persuade. D. To prove.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
New Zealand plans to bar foreigners from purchasing existing homes. The ban is expected to become law this year. It aims to slow the rising housing prices and protect New Zealanders interested in buying a home.
The Labour Party government believes that foreign investors have pushed many possible first-time home buyers and families out of the housing market. Last year, median housing prices across the country rose by 5.8 percent, to over $405,000. Housing prices rose even more in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington. Price there rose by more than 18 percent over a 12-month period that ended in June 2017.
The rising prices have pushed home ownership outside the reach of many possible buyers. One home owner told VOA he feels sorry for the younger generation. “I just believe the market has made it impossible for them to get into the housing. ’’ Just 25 years ago, three out of every four New Zealanders lived in their own homes. Now the rate is 64 percent —and falling.
The plan to ban foreigners from buying existing homes has yet to be approved. But the measure, called the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill, passed its first reading in parliament in December. Restricting foreign ownership of housing has been tried in other countries, including Switzerland, “If foreign investors are looking to put their cash into New Zealand, if it then forces up the price of property, people cannot afford to live anymore.” says Norman Gemmell, chair of public finance at Victoria University.
Critics say foreign investors have had only a small effect on the cost of housing. Low interest rates, limited supply and immigration have also driven up house prices.
Housing prices continue to make solid gains across the country. And for many New Zealanders, the dream of owning a home is as distant as ever.
1.Which is the main factor of the high housing prices, according to the Labour Party government?
A. Low interest rates. B. Domestic investors.
C. Immigration. D. Foreign buyers.
2.What is true about the housing condition in New Zealand?
A. Housing prices rose by over 18 percent over a year.
B. The housing prices of the capital city rose the least.
C. The rate of New Zealanders living in their own houses is decreasing.
D. The country has witnessed the highest rise of housing prices up to now.
3.What do we know about the ban against housing buying of foreigners?
A. It has been approved in New Zealand so far.
B. It has won the support of people from all walks of life.
C. Similar bans have been adopted in some other countries.
D. It will definitely make New Zealanders harder to own a home.
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. It is hard for the locals to buy a house in New Zealand.
B. A ban on stopping foreign home buyers will take effect in New Zealand.
C. The prices of houses have been rising sharply in New Zealand.
D. There are many reasons for high housing prices in New Zealand.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Louis Cha, better known by his pen name Jin Yong, is an established writer of the classic Chinese Wuxia novel series The Condor Trilogy, A Hero Born.
Cha ______ to Cambridge University for a master’s degree. Aged 81, he became one of the oldest students to ______ in the university’s history.
Cha and his wife left their finely-furnished house in Hongkong and rented a much ______ one near Cambridge. It was ______ that after a careful discussion they hired an Italian ______ so that they could eat Chinese food in an Italian style.
Every day, Cha ______ a schoolbag containing books and materials for class. As a famous kung fu ______, he has many fans. Whenever asked for his signature, he would ______ them politely and tell them if instead of ______ class, he was taking a walk or having a coffee, he would ______ for them.
“Cha used to go to class by bike. However, his wife ______ that cars in the campus might knock him down. Then, the bike was ______, but Cha called himself an old man with little sense of ______ and before long he ______ the car too. Now he uses a taxi.”
When Cha was very ______, his mother once compared him to his star cousin Xu Zhimo who went to Cambridge. Cha was a little ______, determining to prove himself by studying in Cambridge too.______, the most important reason is his strong thirst for knowledge. Cha said, “Some people think I am not ______ to be the director of Literature School in Zhejiang University. I don’t retort (反驳), but I can always ______ my own knowledge.”
As the most accomplished and highly productive founding father of Chinese Wuxia classics, Cha’s consistent ______ to learn really deserves our admiration.
1.A. applied B. graduated C. appealed D. entitled
2.A. enter B. enroll C. write D. show
3.A. shabbier B. costlier C. bigger D. brighter
4.A. serious B. challenging C. considerate D. interesting
5.A. babysitter B. nurse C. chef D. teacher
6.A. sends B. carries C. holds D. chooses
7.A. scholar B. director C. artist D. novelist
8.A. refuse B. accept C. approve D. appreciate
9.A. delivering B. skipping C. conducting D. attending
10.A. interpret B. write C. sign D. explain
11.A. expected B. predicted C. feared D. argued
12.A. changed B. replaced C. destroyed D. exchanged
13.A. humor B. business C. direction D. achievement
14.A. gave up B. took up C. sold out D. used up
15.A. old B. young C. sick D. lazy
16.A. sad B. surprised C. demanding D. jealous
17.A. However B. Therefore C. Furthermore D. Consequently
18.A. welcomed B. qualified C. recruited D. elected
19.A. test B. show C. prove D. increase
20.A. hesitation B. intelligence C. willingness D. ability
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
Chomolungma, “Goddess Mother of the World,” the local name of Mount Everest, is a fitting name for the 1. (high) peak on earth. Mount Everest 2. (worship) by followers of the Buddhist religion, and two temples, respectively in Nepal (尼泊尔) and China have been built 3. (face) the peak.
In 1852, a British surveyor excitedly burst into his supervisor’s office and made an 4. (announce): “Sir, I have discovered the world’s summit!” Thus the world outside the Himalayas learned of Everest’s claim to fame. However, the remoteness of the peak, its “thin air,” the 5. (predict) climate, and political and religious reasons delayed the first climbing plan. It was not until 1921 6. an attempt was made.
Numerous later expeditions failed,7. each time, climbers got closer to the summit. New equipment, including oxygen 8. (tank) for the thin air, helped.9. May 29, 1953, a New Zealand beekeeper named Hillary and his Nepalese guide Tenzig reached the top of the world and planted 10. national flags.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
The hot pot, dated back to several thousand years ago, is one of the traditional Chinese diets, which enjoys a wide popularity. In the cold winter, people like to eat the hot pot what instantly warms up their bodies and lift up their spirits. Nowadays in many residents, homes, the traditional coal-heated hot pots have been replacing gradually by modem electrical cooks. Hot pot styles and ingredients vary region to region in China. Generally speaking, the common meats used including pork, beef, chicken and duck, so other hot pot dishes are vegetables, mushrooms, noodles and etc. When people have the hot pot together, what real matters is not only the food but also the atmosphere.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
假设你是李华，某国际中学的学生，你与外教Lucy老师约好要去参加这个周末的元宵节（Lantern Festival)庆祝活动，但是因某种原因你无法参加。请跟Lucy老师写一封信，内容如下：
1. 对你无法参加庆祝活动表达歉意；
2. 陈述具体原因；
3. 提出解决办法。
要求：1. 开头和结尾已为你写好（不计入总词数）；
2. 文中不得出现真实的校名和人名；
3. 字数100词左右。
Dear Lucy,
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
难度: 中等查看答案及解析